Sony defended its right to prevent customers from illegally copying music but said it will halt manufacturing CDs with the "XCP" technology as a precautionary measure. "We also intend to re-examine all aspects of our content protection initiative to be sure that it continues to meet our goals of security and ease of consumer use," the company said in a statement.

The antipiracy technology, which works only on Windows computers, prevents customers from making more than a few copies of the CD and prevents them from loading the CD's songs onto Apple Computer's popular iPod portable music players. Sony's announcement came one day after security companies disclosed that hackers were distributing malicious programs over the Internet that exploited the antipiracy technology's ability to avoid detection. Hackers discovered they can effectively render their programs invisible by using names for computer files similar to ones cloaked by the Sony technology.

Looks like the pirate won the battle. Technology getting complex each day but hackers keep getting smarter. I have no idea how to stop piracy. Sony is trying to protect their products but at the same time "openning" a hole for hackers. I don't know if they have tested it or just a fast "pick-and-pack" method. Not just that, some anti-virus indentified Sony's XCP as spyware and put it on the red-alert level.

Kaspersky Lab has classed Sony's DRM software as spyware because, among other things, it can cause crashes and loss of data, and it can compromise system integrity and security.

Explaining its decision, Kaspersky said it used the definition of spyware provided by the Anti-Spyware Coalition. Sophos, another security company, is similarly scathing of Sony and is calling the software "ineptware."

If you need help to remove their XCP software, you might want to read their disclaimer first. Please read below before doing anything stupid.

If at some point you wish to remove the software from your machine simply contact customer service through this link. The only safe and proper way to uninstall the components is to follow these instructions exactly. You will, though, be unable to use the disc on your computer once you uninstall the components.